News Release

Singapore

Jones Lang LaSalle’s perspective: Private residential units sold by developers in December 2013

2014-01-15T06:00:00Z

Highly Cautious Mood Dampens Private Home Sales in December 2013

​​​​​SINGAPORE, 15 January 2014 – Notwithstanding December being a generally slow month due to the holiday season, the dismal sale of only 259 private residential units by developers also reflects a highly cautious mood in the market. This is in stark contrast to the 1,410 private homes sold in December 2012 when developers and buyers remained confident and active in spite of the holiday month.

In the absence of fresh major launches by developers in December 2013, buyers also stayed by the side lines awaiting new launches at more attractive prices while also giving previous launches under the “old price regime” a miss. Uncertain of demand, developers held back launches, resulting in only 118 private homes launched in December. Of these 118 units, 117 were new releases from previously launched projects. Only 1 new project came onto the market during the month – Avant Parc, a 15 unit landed development at Wak Hassan Place, of which only 1 unit was offered for sale and sold.

For the whole of 2013, an estimated 15,015 private residential units have been sold by developers. In the first half of the year, 9950 units were sold but after imposition of the TDSR framework in June, second half sales plunged by about half to 5,065 units. Based on buying trends in the second half of 2013, it is estimated that developer sale of private homes in 2014 could be in the range of 10,000 to 12,000 units. The cooling measures in place, particularly the TDSR, will continue to impact demand in 2014.

​Table 1: Total island-wide (landed and non-landed excluding ECs) unites sold by developers